Government to present PPP project list to Korea

MANILA, Philippines - The government is courting three Korean construction firms to invest in the Philippines’ priority infrastructure projects, the Board of Investments (BOI) said.

“We will be in Korea for an investments promotions mission,” BOI Managing Head Cristino L. Panlilio told reporters.

Panlilio will be in Korea until tomorrow evening to present the government’s list of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to Korean companies. “We will give an appetizer on it.”

Panlilio noted that aside from the PPP projects, the Philippine government is expecting investments that will come in from the auto industry, ship building, housing and mining. Korean auto maker Hyundai Asia Resources is the third biggest seller of vehicles in the Philippines while Hanjin has made a sizeable investment in shipbuilding here.

Panlilio said that they will be meeting with Lotte, the company that bought international softdrinks brand Pepsi. Likewise, Panlilio said that three big construction firms have expressed interest in investing in the PPP. “They will be very interested in the PPP.”

The PPP has already been presented to the United States and Japan this past month as part of the government’s investment missions.

The government has released the top 10 PPP Projects with a combined worth P127.78 billion. The infrastructure projects were mainly for the improvement of the rail system, roads and airports.

The biggest project is for the expansion project of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) which has a projected cost of P70 billion.

This is followed by the North Luzon Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway Link which has a projected cost of P21 billion. The MRT Line 2 has an estimated cost of P11.3 billion while the CALA Expressway has an estimated cost of P10.5 billion.

The other projects are the Panglao worth P7.5 billion, the Puerto Prinsesa Airport worth P4.36 billion and the Daraga International Airport worth P3 billion. Projects which do not have costs yet but are part of the list are the Development of City Terminal for the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the privatization of the Laguindingan Airport Operation and Maintenance and the Supply of Treated Bulk Water for Metro Manila.